No Ties Allowed!

I hate ties. I wore a tie for the first 20 years of my career, so when I became my own boss in 1996 I swore I’d never wear one again.

I am proud to report that my tie selection is sparse. I have a few, but they are reserved for weddings, funerals and the like.

My employees know of my aversion to neckwear. They too are not allowed to wear ties. Years ago, one of our managers came into the office wearing a tie. I grabbed a pair of scissors and, much to his co-workers’ amusement, I cut it clean in half. He and I still laugh about it, but he never wore a tie to work again.

I guess it’s not so much the accessory, but what it suggests – stiff, stuffy attitudes. I take pride in the fact that LMS is not stuffy. Yes, we are professional and yes we take our jobs very seriously, but we also have fun. For years I worked in offices that were anything but fun.

I believe that people are more productive, and definitely more creative, when they work in an environment that is a little more relaxed. We have cubical decorating contests, we eat pizza and watch ESPN at lunch and once a year we wear black in honor of Johnny Cash Day.

We are a successful company with an unusually low employee turnover rate. I like to attribute this to our commitment to make LMS a place where people want to work. And regardless of how large our company becomes, I refuse to lose that; and no matter what, I’ll still refuse to wear a tie.